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Microforms
The Microform Collection

Lower Level, Shields Library

Microform (or microcopy, the former term) means any photographic
reproduction of any material in a size too small to be read without
magnification. It provides a way for the library to collect and
maintain materials too fragile, bulky, old or valuable to collect
in the original forms, for example, newspapers, rare books, or
old magazines. The Microforms collection is located on the Lower
Level of Shields Library. Equipment for reading all formats is available
in the lower level. Self-service and mediated printing are available in
the library.

Assistance with finding microforms or using the reading
equipment is provided by the staff of the Periodicals/Microforms
desk. Reference Librarians at the Government Information
Reference desk assist users with reference questions involving the
contents of collections or using Government Information in microform.
A number of major microform sets and series are being converted to
digital format. Examples are Early American
Imprints, Early English Books
and the New York Times.
Our staff can assist you to access the various formats.

Different Microforms

Microforms in Shields Library can be in one of four forms. The form
can be identified by the symbol following the call number in MELVYL
or the card catalog.

Microfilm

35mm film on reels. All newspapers, some large sets of rare books,
some magazines and other materials are on microfilm. The symbol mf,
appearing below the call number, indicates microfilm. e.g.
AC 1 U62 mf

Microfiche

4 X 6 or 3 X 5 film sheets. Each sheet holds 40 to 98 pages.
Most technical reports, government documents, and dissertations
are in microfiche. The symbol mf, followed by a number, usually
mf11, appearing below the call number, indicates microfiche.

Microcard

3 X 5 opaque card. Now an obsolete form, it was formerly used for
technical reports and some collections of rare materials. mc is the
symbol for microcard.

Microprint

6 X 9 opaque sheet. Now an obsolete form, many older collections of
rare books and government documents are in microprint. The symbol mp,
appearing below the call number, indicates microprint.

Access to the Microform Collections

Our online catalogs list microform holdings
for periodicals, newspapers, microform sets, and individual works by
author, title and subject. Searches in the UCD Library Harvest Catalog
may be limited by microform format.

Many large sets can be accessed either by the name of the set or
the individual works in the set. In other cases, only the set is included
in the catalog and you must use a guide to locate individual works.
Consult with a reference librarian for assistance in locating the guides
to collections. Guides are available in the appropriate subject reference
department or in the Microform collection, and reference librarians in
these areas can assist with the indexes.

The call number for microforms will include mf, mf11, mp or mc in the
last line of the call number. Most works are assigned a Library of
Congress call number. Newspapers on microfilm are generally filed
alphabetically by title.

Reading and Reader-Printer Equipment

Reading machines are available to view all microforms. Readers
for microfilm, microfiche, and microprint are located in the Microforms
Reading Room on the Lower Level. Reader-printers to make paper
copies from microform are in the Lower Level Copy Room and in
the Shields Library Copy Service on Level 1. Self-service reader-printers
in the Lower Level copy film or microfiche; patrons may print to
paper for a fee or download scanned pages to their USB storage device
without charge. Assisted copying can be done at the Library Copy Service.
A fiche-to-fiche duplicating machine is available in the Library Copy
Service to make duplicates of microfiche.

What is Available in Microform?

Dissertations

From 1978 to 2003/2004, the library maintained a microprint copy of
all masters theses and doctoral dissertations. For more information see
our Dissertations page.

Newspapers

UCD has long runs of many newspapers on microform. A partial list
includes:

Chicago Tribune (April 23, 1849-current)

Christian Science Monitor (January 1956-current)

Daily Democrat (1878-1881, 1886-1891, April 1972-current)

Davis Enterprise (January 1898-current)

Financial Times (January 1981-current)

Los Angeles Times (December 4, 1881-current)

New York Times (September 18, 1851-current)

Pravda (January 1977-current)

Sacramento Bee (February 3, 1857-current)

Sacramento Union (March 19, 1851-1854, January 1869-current)

San Francisco Chronicle (January 16, 1865-current)

The Times (London) 1785-current)

Wall Street Journal (July 1889-current)

Washington Post (July 1904-1958, 1961-current)

Winters Express (1887-current)

Electronic versions of many newspapers, and printed indexes to
selected newspapers, are available; see our
Newspaper pages (for more information.

Periodicals

The early years of some periodicals now being received in paper
copy are in microform. Look up periodical or newspaper titles
to find a call number and holdings for both paper and microform.
Microform holdings as well as paper holdings will be listed in
the Harvest Catalog and MELVYL.

UCD has several major collections of periodicals from the 18th
and 19th centuries. Printed guides in the Microform Room and the
Humanities, Social Sciences & Government Information Services list titles and years available.
Ask at the Documents Reference Desk or the Humanities, Social Sciences & Government Information Services
Reference Desk for assistance. The following are two major historical
collections.

Wing, Donald. Short-Title Catalog of Books Printed
in England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and British American and of English
Books Printed in Other Countries, 1641-1700. (Series II)
Z2002 W5 1972

Accessing Early English Books.
Z 2002 U586 1981

Eighteenth Century

A continuing project reproducing on microfilm works printed in
any language in the British empire or anywhere else in the world,
from 1701 to 1800. The project will eventually include more than
200,000 titles. UCD has works filmed through 1992.

Microfiche of the reports indexed in Resources
in Education or in the ERIC database. UCD began collecting the
ERIC ED reports in 1980. The subscription ended in 2004 with electronic
only access.

Indexed through CSA (http://www.csa.com/htbin/dbrng.cgi?username=davis&access=davis856&cat=eric&adv=1) and OCLC (http://firstsearch.oclc.org/fsip?dbname=eric); also available online 1993-present through
http://www.eric.ed.gov (http://www.eric.ed.gov).

Uncataloged microfiche.

Guide:

Eric CD-ROM in HSSGIS Reference or Resources in
Education in HSSGIS Reference.

SEC FILE (Earlier: Q-File and Disclosure)

Microfiche of company annual reports, proxy statements, 10-K and
other reports submitted by major U.S. corporations to the Securities
and Exchange Commission.

This collection covers 1981-1998; later years are avialable online via
the SEC's EDGAR system (http://www.sec.gov).

HG 4050 D4 mf11 (microfiche)

Guide:

An index/guide is in the microfiche room and is usually
shelved on the table near the cabinets containing the fiche.